How platform co-ops democratize work | Trebor Scholz

TED Talks Daily

TED

Creativity, Ted Podcast, Ted Talks Daily, Business, Design, Inspiration, Society & Culture, Science, Technology, Education, Tech Demo, Ted Talks, Ted, Entertainment, Tedtalks

4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2021

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Co-ops date back almost 200 years, run by groups of people that work together to own and operate a company. What does it look like when this tried-and-true business model merges with the digital economy? Trebor Scholz introduces the “platform cooperative,” a new way to create democratic companies of empowered workers -- and develop a better, fairer alternative to the gig economy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It's TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hugh. So you're probably familiar with co-ops for food. You might
0:10.0	support a cooperative like this in order to get your vegetables from farmers who share in decision-making.
0:15.7	But as activist and author, Trevor Schultz, reminds us, food co-ops aren't the only kind.
0:21.4	And in his 2021 talk from Ted Monterey, he introduces us to platform cooperatives,
0:27.5	which marry a centuries-old co-op model with 21st century tech.
0:34.6	Meet Esmerada Flores. She is a home cleaner in New York City. And like so many home cleaners,
0:41.5	she's using a tech platform, an app, to connect to clients. But unlike other home cleaners,
0:48.1	she's making $25 an hour, which is twice as much as she used to make at her previous company.
0:54.5	And she makes a living wage.
0:56.9	There's no algorithmic boss at her company that changes the pay or hours from under her feet.
1:03.7	So she has some stability for her family.
1:07.0	And every week, the workers at this company are meeting to decide how to run this company.
1:14.5	They decide on the operations.
1:17.0	Esmeralda receives training in finance and in management and in conflict resolution,
1:24.1	and it really makes her grow as a person within that company.
1:28.7	Now, you might be asking, like, what?
1:30.9	So what kind of company is that I've never heard of a tech platform that gives benefits like that?
1:35.4	How do they do this?
1:36.8	So the answer is up and go, and it's not your typical tech platform.
1:41.1	It's what is called a platform cooperative,
1:44.0	which means that the workers, the house
1:47.5	cleaners, are sharing the governance and the ownership of this platform. They are deciding on
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from TED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of TED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.